IRA Distributions to Multiple Beneficiaries

Recent changes in federal law have simplified the options available to beneficiaries of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA). Among the essential considerations are whether the owner of the IRA account, referred to as the “participant,” died before the RBD or Required Beginning Date, which is currently 70.5 years. Another is the age of the oldest person among the multiple beneficiaries. If the beneficiaries agree, the inherited IRA assets can be distributed over the life expectancy of the oldest beneficiary, according to current government tables. Or the multiple beneficiaries may agree on another option, which is to have the full balance distributed in shares to all the beneficiaries, as determined by the participant, by December 31 of the fifth year following the participant's death.